Today's Strategy, Tommorow's Wildlife January 1983 Third Edition

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habitat through energy or other development must not only replace the lost habitat, they must provide for improved habitat as well so that there is no net loss of habitat to wildlife. 2. ... made substantial progress in improving and preserving habitat. For example, in 1981 the Division secured more than 60 new leases to improve pheasant populations on private lands, cooperated in improving about 20,000 acres of federal lands, and acquired all the water in Bonny Reservoir. 3. ... completed management plans for more than 50 Wildlife Management Areas and improved wildlife habitat on more than 240,000 acres of Division land. 4. ... emphasized data collection on stream flows to secure more water for fisheries ... and has given strong input to the Water Quality Control Commission to help maintain the quality of our waters. 5. ... formed a consortium to help reduce the adverse impact of human development on wildlife in northwest Colorado, with initial funding by the Bureau of Land Management. 6. ... set up a new anti- poaching program to reduce not only illegal game harvest but live- stock rustling as well. 7. ... worked with the Wildlife Commission in the expansion of a program of awarding spe- cial Certificates of Appreciation in order to recognize landowners who open their lands to public fishing and hunting. 8. ... clarified and simplified all hunting, fish- ing and trapping information brochures and distributed these to more than a million peo- ple who hunt and fish. 9. .., improved maps of Division properties and identified those properties and federal lands with better signs so that sportsmen will know where to hunt and fish. This program will undoubtedly reduce trespass. 10. ... put new emphasis on outdoor education, safety and ethics, in order to reduce littering and increase sportsman respect for the own- ers of private lands where we fish, hunt and observe wildlife. FOR GAME, The Division has ... 11. ... improved elk management techniques .. . to the point where a record 30,309 animals were taken by hunters in 1981. 12. ... declared 1980 . to be "The Year of the Phea- sant" to renew leasing emphasis on small plots and distributed seeds and planting materials to landowners to improve cover. Good pheasant production weather, along with the habitat leasing and development program, brought an excellent upland game bird season to hunters in 1981. 13. ... supervised programs which resulted in an increase in deer populations from the lows in the late 60s and early 70s to popula- tions that produced a harvest of 67,425 in 1981. (40,800 deer were taken in 1971). 14. ... developed a three -way split duck season and a larger bag limit on mourning doves — two popular innovations. 15. ... produced —with the patient help of the livestock and orchard industries and the leg- islature —the most comprehensive game damage prevention and compensation pro- gram in the nation. Fourteen orchards were fenced in 1981, bringing the total to 60, and 72 more permanent stackyards were finished for a total of 700. Division personnel spent over 4,000 man -days in damage prevention and claim work. 16. ... carefully monitored the newly- estab- lished moose population in North Park and the desert bighorns near Grand Junction. These species, reintroduced into Colorado, will eventually expand the sport hunting opportunities for hunters. 17. ... reduced antelope populations in problem areas of the plains and modified hunting dates to acknowledge both landowner con- cerns and the welfare of the pronghorn. Pop- ulation levels are at or near optimum in most areas as evidenced by record harvests in 1980 and 1981. 18. ... set up the quadrat census system for heli- copter deer counts to improve estimates over large geographic areas. 19. ... started a special mountain lion study on the Uncompahgre Plateau to determine the factors that influence populations. 11